Sandy Hook Elementary School

I thought I’d acknowledge the tragedy in Connecticut today; 27 murdered in cold blood – 20 of them children between the ages of 5-10. Sadly Sandy Hook Elementary School now joins the ranks of Columbine, Red Lake High School, and Virginia Tech – forever associated with this unthinkable tragedy. The fact that the victims were so young, the fact that Christmas is around the corner, the fact that I feel this was avoidable if we had stronger gun laws consumes me and was all I could talk about at work today.

I’m trying to reconcile those feelings with a Tweet I just read from the National Rifle Association, proudly proclaiming that more than 1.7 million Americans liked their facebook page to show their support for the nation’s largest gun lobbying group.

Photo from New York Times

There are many reasons to be proud of the United States. Our obsession with guns is not one of them and my heart breaks for all those directly impacted. I have no ties to anyone in that school and I’m shaken to my core. Sadly there is no recourse and more shootings will likely follow in the new year since Americans stubbornly refuse to support gun control.

I would also argue that today isnt the day for either of those discussions – today is the day for remembering and mourning the victims and for holding the families of those who were affected in our hearts and our minds.

We dont just need a discussion about gun control – we also need a serious discourse in this country about mental illness. If the reports are true, the shooter had a known personality disorder. And to hold the parents responsible because they light the fuse is a ridiculous notion – the shooter killed his own mother who also happened to be a teacher at this school.

First you have to ask the question, why is the United States so awash in guns. The answer to that is armament manufacturers/corporations. They’re in it for the profit of selling the guns. They also have a serious lobby in congress, after all they also sell to the government.

If you want to solve the guns issue and ban them I suggest you also prevent police from carrying weaponry too. No fair when only one side gets to go around armed.

But if you want a real solution, work to modify the 14th Amendment – you know, the equal protection amendment. It is through that that most corporation claim the same rights as you and I hold. Thing is, that is a FALSE notion. And we need to assert our will and make it so corporations can not stand behind the shield of person hood.

There is no gun law strong enough to stop this kind of mass murder. I saw a talking head on television this afternoon say that a when a killer is sufficiently motivated nothing can be done to stop him (and I believe this inculdeds stronger gun law, which the NRA opposes every time anyway and they are strong enough to block every reform).

The best way to deal with this is to hold the parents of the killer responsible because they most likely lit the fuse that led to this explosion of unnecessary violence. It’s always men, never women.

This will fill the news for a few day and we all move on until it happens again. The rub is it will happen more and more often and no amount of ease dropping and warrentless survailence will make anyone any safer (be it adult or child).

Today an ementary school, tomorrow a day care or kindergarten. It will only get worse. Never better so everybody should just learn to live with it.

I agree that where there is a will, there will be a way, but by making guns so easy to purchase, society becomes complicit and is in part responsible for the violence it abides. I refuse to accept your prediction that only more of this is inevitable. We might not be able to stop everyone but not trying is not an option in my opinion.

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